Phillipsburg's senior citizen center, already months behind schedule, will be delayed further because the contractor is filing a federal bankruptcy court action.

Town Manager Frank Tolotta told council at its meeting last night of the contractor's intent. Town Attorney John Pursel said that the town has not been formally notified and that he did not know which chapter of the bankruptcy code the contractor would file under.

Pursel said the town was informed of the action yesterday by the project's architect and Acropol, the Parlin, N.J., contractor.

"The realistic effect is there's going to be another delay," Pursel said. "There is no activity there now and there won't be for a while."

Ground was broken for the 4,100-square-foot, one-story structure at Firth and Marshall streets May 31. The center was supposed to be finished Sept. 20. In November, a new completion date of Feb. 5 was given, but that is no longer possible after last night's development.

Pursel said the town has to wait for official notification of the bankruptcy filing -- about a week, he said. "We'll know in a couple of weeks what will happen with bankruptcy court," Pursel said, adding that it could be longer if there's a backlog of bankruptcy court cases.

Questions of insurance and securing the building were raised by Councilman Ronald Titus. "We have an investment in that building," he said, "and I wonder if we have it insured, because it's going to be a target now."

Pursel said: "It's still our building, and if the contractor is not showing up, we have to secure it."

Tolotta said the contractor insured the building and would check further on the insurance.

"I would suspect that since we paid for what is there, we have an insurable interest," Tolotta said.

He is also uncertain whether the town can do any of the remaining work and did not want to guess at the degree of the project's completion.

"In retrospect," said Councilman W. Paul Rummerfield, "It's a good thing we held out the liquidated damages."

Phillipsburg's contract with Acropol calls for the contractor to pay damages of $100 a day for each day that the project is late. Council has been withholding the money from bills submitted by the contractor.

For example, $2,500 and $2,900 have been withheld in the last few months from bills of $52,000 and $24,000. Acropol was the lowest bidder, offering to do the work for $306,000. They began the project by pouring the building's concrete foundation in the wrong place.

In a related matter, Councilwoman Gloria Decker said a status report on the project, submitted by architect Vincent Paolicelli of Washington, N.J., is "absolutely ridiculous."

"I would like to ask him to send us professional reports," she said. "He sent us three lines and it reminded me of a `Bugs Bunny' cartoon. He ended it with `That's all folks.'"